Canadian artist Jean Paul Riopelle was a student of Paul-Émile Borduas, with whom he founded the Automatiste movement in 1942. Theorized in the manifesto Refus global, the ideology of automatism was in line with the Surrealist movement, while claiming non-figurative means of expression and moving away from geometric abstraction. Although they were similar in form to abstract expressionism, their approach was different. Jean Paul Riopelle moved to Paris in 1947, the same year as the International Surrealist Exhibition at the Maeght Gallery. He befriended André Breton, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Alberto Giacometti. He maintained strong ties with Quebec, where he returned for good in 1990. The works of his last years were marked by a return to a certain form of figuration.